ANKARA – Turkish parliament has approved a joint defence agreement involving Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, paving the way for closer military and security cooperation between the three countries.
Turkish media reports said 279 lawmakers voted in support of the agreement, while 119 opposed it. Out of the parliament’s 600 members, 398 took part in the voting.
The Chairman of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee described the pact as a defensive arrangement, emphasising that it was not designed to facilitate aggression against any other country.
Ziya Altunyaldiz, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said the agreement was intended to strengthen regional security through greater cooperation among the participating nations.
The trilateral agreement was signed in Makkah on August 7, with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attending the signing ceremony.
The agreement provides a framework for joint security commitments among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. Under its collective defence provision, an armed attack against one participating country would be treated as an attack against all three.
The Turkish parliament’s approval marks an important development in the formalisation of defence ties between the three countries, following the signing of the agreement in Saudi Arabia.
